[Paraview] Readers compatibility list

[Berk Geveci]

Hi Renato,

I don't have a compatibility list.

Some of the issues you have been running into is due to the transition
to the new multi-block code in VTK. Although many of the filters
worked out of the box after the move to the new code, some require
changes to handle the new data structures. The readers that show
these problems are:
* Ensight
* Plot3D
* XML multiblock/AMR

We are working on improving the multi-block support. Meanwhile, I will
introduce a filter that can convert a multi-block dataset to a simple
dataset by extracting one block. Using that filter, you will be able
to extract one block and apply all available filters as before. This
is a temporary solution. As the multi-block support grows, more and
more filters will become available. There are more filters avaible for
multiblock datasets in 2.6. I will try to generate a list of those
that do not work before the release.

As for lookmarks, we are rewriting them completely in paraview 3. They
will work for all readers. If you have issues with the lookmark
implementation in paraview 2, post a bug report (or point me to one if
it exists) and I will see if it can be fixed before 2.6.

As for volume rendering, you will be able to volume render image and
unstructured data  as long as they are "simple" datasets. If you have
a multi-block dataset produced by one of the readers above, you will
have to apply a filter to convert it to a simple dataset.

As for parallel reading, the readers that I know support parallel reading are:
* Parallel XML readers
* EnSight SOS reader
* XDMF reader (structured and partitioned unstructured)
* Exodus reader
* Spyplot reader

There may be others. If a reader does not support parallel reading,
paraview will take care of redistributing data over MPI. This
behaviour is a little different depending on the data type. For
polydata and unstructured grids, the first node will read all the data
and redistribute using MPI. For structured datasets (image,
rectilinear and structured grids), all processes will read all the
data and then crop it.

I hope this helps. If you are aware of any bugs in any of these, let me know.

-berk

On 10/21/06, Renato N. Elias <rnelias at nacad.ufrj.br> wrote:
>
> Hey guys,
>
> Is there a ParaView compatibility list according to the reader used?
>
> For example:
>
> VTK Format: all PV filters supported, parallel reading, lookmarks
> Exodus: filter X, Y, Z, volume rendering, parallel reading, etc...
> Plot3D: filter W, K, L (partially supported)
> Ensight: ...
> ...
> ...
>
> It would be helpful when deciding which format should be adopted to use with
> ParaView.
>
> maybe someone in PV team already have something like that.
>
> Regards
>
> Renato N. Elias
> ===============================================
> PhD student - http://www.nacad.ufrj.br/~rnelias
> High Performance Computing Center
> Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
> Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
> +55(21) 2562-8080
>
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>


-- 
 Berk Geveci
 Kitware Inc.
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